Joe Principe – Rise Against (audio interview)

For many bands starting out it can either be a make or break situation if you choose to be quite outspoken early on in your careers. However if what you stand and are fighting for resonates with an audience from the very beginning, you could find yourself with a large amount of followers/fans who truly appreciate you for all you set out to achieve. One of those bands who have gained worldwide respect and acknowledgement for their efforts is Chicago’s melodic hardcore band Rise Against who have let their personal beliefs become quite known throughout their 16 years as a band.

There doesn’t seem to be many topics which these guys will turn a blind eye to in their mission to speak awareness to their fans and listeners alike. Over the years (through their music and personal lives) they’ve drawn attention to Animal Rights, American Politics, Refugees, Veganism and most notably their stand against homophobia for the “It Gets Better Project” via their song “Make It Stop (September’s Children)” from their 2011 album release “Endgame“. When speaking about the track and accompanying video to bassist Joe Principe he stated:

“[The idea came from] the rise of suicides that were the result of bullying and how the internet escalates it. Being bullied on Facebook is more harmful than when I was growing up where [bullying] was localised to your classroom. On Facebook thousands of people can see it and it’s too much for a teenage to handle. They feel like they’re alone in what’s happening to them, so we wanted to expose that with that song.

We just wanted to raise awareness that this is happening and it’s a real issue and we try to do everything we can to talk about it so people know it’s fucked. It’s not a way to live being a bully.”

Not stopping there, as we know in Australia we are one of the last countries to legalise Same-Sex Marriages (mainly due to our former fuckwit of a Prime Minister and current political party running the country) so Joe shared his own opinion for current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of why we should introduce this legislation to Australia:

“Love is Love is Love. That’s all there is to it and people should be happy.

Everyone’s entitled to that right in their life”

A statement we could not agree with any more, however, due to the fact Rise Against are quite open to discussing their own country’s political issues, the topic of Donald Trump‘s Presidential Campaign was brought up and as expected (just like their anti-Bush stance back in 2004), it seems they’re not too keen having one of America’s richest men running America and Joe Principe was quite open in telling us why. Now if you missed the boys when they toured with the Foo Fighters earlier this year, never fear because we can expect a shitload more to happen next month when they return for the second time this year promoting their latest release “The Black Market“. Fans can expect a more in-depth look into the band’s back catalogue and current tracks before they hit the studio to work on new material next year.

Having already caught them on the Fooies tour back in February, if you were thinking about giving this tour a miss, you definitely need to take a look at yourself in the mirror, rearrange your priorities and get your arse along to see these guys in concert. You will walk away fulfilled, possibly sore and may even learn a thing or two about the cruel world we live in through the eyes of a band who aren’t afraid to tell it like it is.